In Past Show

About Alex Guofeng Cao

Alex Guofeng Cao re-creates iconic photographs out of digital mosaics. His intricate collages, often depicting celebrities, are composed of other well-known images, shrunk down to the size of a pixel. In one of his best known pieces, an image of Marilyn Monroe is built out of tiny Mona Lisas; titled Marilyn vs. Mona Lisa (2009), the work suggests an adversarial relationship between the two ubiquitous though dissimilar female icons, in line with her juxtapositions that imply political commentary or critique. His portrait of Barack Obama consists of thousands of Abraham Lincolns, while a photograph of a starving child in Sudan is built from the smiling face of Jimmy Carter. Guofeng Cao's network of connections extends beyond each individual piece. In creating new-yet-familiar compositions from preexisting images, he references the way we process imagery, understanding new pictures by drawing on our interpretations of earlier ones.